Method of making joints.



G. A MEAD.

MEIHiJ-D OF MAKING JOINTS.

APPLI'BAHON FILED FEB.2,1918.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. A. MEAD.

METHOD OF MAKING JOINTS.

APPLICATION nuzo FEB.2, l9l8- Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WEED STATEd ATENT OFFTQEQ GEORGE A. MEAD, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS COMPANY, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO,'A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

original application filed June 14, 1917, Serial No. 174,666. Divided and this application filed February 2,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. MEAD, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Joints, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the method of securing parts together. This invention is particularly adapted to connecting the adjacent ends of rails by means of a connector for conducting the electric current from one rail to the next, thereby producing the efiect electrically of a continuous rail without joint.

Another use to which this invention can be put is that of a method of bonding which can be applied with a minimum amount of physical efi'ort upon the part of the man in stalling the bonds.

Another use to which this invention is adapted is that of a method by which rail bonds can be installed with practically the same contacting pressure in each case.

Other objects of this invention as relating to its application of this invention will be readily comprehended by those-versed in the art from the following description.

This application forms a division of ap- PllCltlOIl Serial No. 174,666 filed June 14:, 191

There are a number of disadvantages in the present type of bonds intended to be attached to the rails by expanding the terminals in holes provided for the same and also in the method of applying such types of bond. One of the objections is that the operator is obliged to exert considerable effort upon the end of a long wrench in compressing the terminal of the bond into a hole in the rail.

The operator soon tires and the result is that the majority of bonds have been slighted and their contact efiiciency is low. It is the aim of this invention to minimize the physical efforts and at the same time to employ a means for expanding or compressing the terminal within the hole of a rail whichwill give uniform results; that is the force will be equal in each case or approximately so and, therefore, having uniform conditions as to size of terminal and size of Serial No. 215,202.

hole in rail, the expansion or compression of the bond will be uniform or substantially uniform and the contact efiiciency will be substantially equal in all cases.

in order to apply my method to the bonding of rails and secure these benefits thereof, I employ an explosive which is located within the terminal of the bond as a means of creating the expansive force whereby the terminal is made to contact with the rail. This explosive. may be in the form of a liquid, a solid, or a gas contained under pressure Within a receptacle, but whatever form is used it should be of a suiiiciently unstable chemical character to readily explode and suddenly expand under proper conditions. The explosive can form either a fixed part of the bond, that is applied to the bond at the time of manufacture and non-removable, or it may be separate which can be applied to the terminal by the user at the time when he desires to install the bond.

As applied to the bonding of rails the following is a description of the various figures shown in the drawing and my method of applying the same:

Figure 1 shows a sectional end view of a rail and bond terminal, and a compressor positioned upon the rail and bond terminal and shown partially in section.

Fig. 2 shows a bond terminal and rail in section, the terminal being installed in the side face of the ball of the rail, and a compressor for holding the parts together is shown in partial sections.

Fig. '3 shows a side elevation of one form of my bond with one terminal shown in section.

Fig. 4 shows a plan View of the bond shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows a side elevation of a second form of my invention but difl'ering from that shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 shows a view of a shell containing an explosive and a priming cap for use with the type of bond shown in'Fig. 3.

The bond which I use with my method of bonding rails consists of one or more terminals indicated by numeral 1, united by a conductor 2, which may consist of a flexible copper member or other suitable conducting means. The terminals are attached to the intervening conductor in any suitable mansitioning inFigs. 1 and 2. This tool need ket, or it may be made specially in order to meet special requirements.

Another form of the bond which I make use of in the application of my-method of bonding rails is shown in Fig. 5 and in this form the terminals are charged with the explosive by the manufacturer of the bond.

I The bond is the same as described for Fig. 3

but in Fig. 5 the terminal is loaded with an explosive 10 and the end of the cavity or recess in the terminal is closed by means of a cap 11 and the cap 11 is provided with a primer for detonating the explosive 10.

In applying my method to the bonding of rails a hole is first drilled in each rail adjacent to the abutting ends as conditions require. The hole is to be of such a size as to snugly receive the shank 5- of the bond. If the bond is not provided by the manufacturer with its full charge of explosive as shown by the type of bond in Fig; 5 then the type of bond shown in Fig. 3 is used and v the charge is applied by the users by inserting'in the recess 3 a charge contained in a shell or receptacle as shown by Fig. 6.

The bond terminal and a charge contained therein is now inserted inthe hole in the rail provided for the bondterminal,-and a compressing or holding tool isapplied and such a tool is shown and method of ponot be shown in the figures but can be of various forms of construction with the idea of holding the terminal in place in the rail and maintaining a closed end for preventing the escape of the expanding gases within the terminal and having means for detonating or exploding the chargewithin the terminal.

Having properly positioned the bond and the compressor, the explosive charge within the terminal is detonated or exploded, and V where the form of compressor tool is used as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, this is accomplished by a light hammer blow on the exposed end of the firing pin 9 or 15 so that the opposite or internal end of the firing pin contacts sharply with the priming cap adjacent the explosive charge.

The discharge of the priming cap causes the explosive material contained within the bond terminal to disintegrate or break up through its unstable chemical character and in doing so it forms suddenly a large volume of gas which creates a very great internal limited aperture or recess.

pressure upon the Walls of the terminal, thereby causing the bond terminal to expand and contact securely with the walls of the hole in the rail.

The construction and operation of the two forms of compressor tools shownin Figs. 1 and 2 are quite clearly set forth in the drawings and are quite obvious and do not, it is believed, require any extensive descript1on..

It will be readily comprehended that the great manual efiort in installing the solid terminal type of bond in a rail and which type is the'one most commonly used, has been eliminated by my method of applying a bond in which the force required to expand the terminal is producel by an explosive which will break up and produce suddenly a large volume of gases within a confined and It will be clearly seen that my invention is not confined solely to that of installing rail bonds, but can be applied to the installation of rivets, studs, etc., in which the rivet, stud, etc., would be constructed practically as set forth in the drawings and description, that is, the rivet would be apertured for a charge of explosive and then applied as herein described for a bond terminal.

I have herein described and set forth the preferred method of applying bonds to a rail, but I do not wish to be limited to such method as specifically described herein as many modifications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art which would not de- 100 part from the spirit and scope of my invention and I do not wish to be limited beyond my claims and what I claim as new and novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: I

1. The method of making connections to electrical conductors consisting in forming a hole in the conductor, then inserting therein a connecting terminal containing an explosive and then firing the explosive, thereby creating an interior pressure and expanding the terminal into secure contact with the conductor.

2. The method of making connections to electrical conductors consisting in forming a hole in the conductor, then inserting therein a connecting terminal provided with a cavity, then inserting in the cavity an explosive and then firing the explosive, thereby creating an interior pressure and expanding the terminal into secure contact with the conductor.

3. The method of making connection to electrical conductors consisting in forming a hole in the conductor, then inserting a conducting terminal therein and then firing an explosive positioned within the terminal to expand the terminal into secure contact with the conductor.

4. The method of making connections to ,c gin the articles, then inserting the other article into the hole in the first article and then firing an explosive contained in the second article to expand the second article into secure engagement with the first article.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE A. MEAD. 

